Conscience

=CONSCIENCE=

//**Definitions:**//
 * awareness of right and wrong
 * inner voice
 * striving to to do the right thing
 * goes beyond knowing the right thing; involves doing it

//**Discussion:**// Use the discussion board to share your personal thoughts, experiences and understandings of this virtue as we progress through the week. Participation is optional, but encouraged. Click on the discussion tab to begin.

//**Quotables:**// Collect quotes that relate to this virtue and share them here. Edit the page, and add the quote and author. Then, give a brief explanation of how that quote relates to the target virtue.
 * "Conscience is a man's compass, and though the needle sometimes deviates, though one often perceives irregularities when directing one's course by it, one must still try to follow its direction." - Vincent van Gogh. [|Letter to Theo van Gogh.] The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh. http://webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/11/253.htm/
 * Vincent Van Gogh authored this quote in 1882. Struggling with the idea of conscience, Van Gogh believes there has to be some benefit in pursuing what is right. Van Gogh uses a metaphor that helps his reader understand the role conscience should play in a person's life.


 * “[|Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody may be looking.]”**
 * [[image:http://thinkexist.com/i/sq/as2.gif width="11" height="9" align="middle"]] [|Henry Louis Mencken quotes] ([|American] humorous [|Journalist] and [|Critic] of American life who influenced US fiction through the 1920s, [|1880]-[|1956])** Our consciences tell us that what we are doing is wrong and that we should listen to it whether there are other people present or not.


 * "I think we all have a little voice inside us that will guide us. It may be God, I don't know. But I think that if we shut out all the noise and clutter from our lives and listen to that voice, it will tell us the right thing to do." - Christopher Reeve. [|Conscience Quotes].
 * Christopher Reeve is informing society about the inner voice we all contain. Reeve believes that we should block out the surroundings and listen to our inner thoughts and act accordingly to that voice (conscience) for it will guide us to do the right thing.


 * "The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death." -Thomas Paine, http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_conscience.html
 * The conscience is all about making the choices that help decide what you make of your life and Paine is trying to inspire people to have a better conscience, one that always strives for the best in every possible situation. A good conscience like that, leads to a happy and successful life


 * “The extent of your consciousness is limited only by your ability to love and to embrace with your love the space around you, and all it contains” - Napoleon Bonaparte, [|Conscience Quotes - Thinkexist.com]
 * Your conscience is there to keep you safe and help you make the right decisions. It also helps you cope with the decisions you've already made. Bonaparte explained how the more you love, the bigger your conscience becomes; therefore the better at making decisions and embracing bad decisions you become.


 * "Through pride we are ever deceiving ourselves. But deep down below the surface of the average conscience a still, small voice says to us, 'Something is out of tune." -Carl Jung, http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_conscience.html
 * Everyone has pride/ego, or something to hide their true feelings about a certain situation. On the surface everything looks okay because we are smiling about a situation but if you really search and find your inner voice it knows that something is wrong. Sometimes it takes some deep searching to find this small voice. I think everything has gone through this (some more than others- but that's just my own personal opinion).


 * "It would be foolhardy to count on the conscience of the world." - Stefan Zweig, [|Conscience Quotes]
 * This quote is a commentary on conscience in society. Few people today base their actions on their personal sense of right and wrong, but are motivated by fear, greed, anger, etc. Too often we act on what will benefit us personally instead of what we know is right.


 * "Conscience is the root of all true courage; if a man would be brave let him obey his conscience." - James Freeman Clarke, http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_conscience.html
 * In this quote, Clarke is explaining his belief that one’s own conscience is more important than the physical laws of the government. He says that a truly brave person listens only to their conscience, and not the voices of others. Courage is standing up for what you believe in regardless of everything else around you


 * “When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?” -Eleanor Roosevelt, Conscience Quotes http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_conscience.html
 * Eleanor is trying to say that it goes against our consciences not to help someone when in need. She says that man has not yet shown that he can care for others. People only look after what is best for themselves.


 * "Be the master of your will and the slave of your conscience." -- Unknown, http://www.hobogirl.com/quotes/HGQ-Conscience.htm
 * Whoever created this qoute was trying to explain the difference in you will and your conscience. You should be in control of your will, which is just your wants and desires, while you should follow, or in this context, work for, your consience as it is your inner understanding of what is right and wrong.


 * “There is no witness so terrible, no accuser so powerful as conscience which dwells within us.” //—// //Sophocles, Greek dramatist (496-406 B.C.); http://www.josephsoninstitute.org/quotes/quoteconscience.htm//
 * The message the quote is trying to give is that you should try to prevent going against your conscience as the guilt that it brings becomes very difficult to escape and it is uncomparable to any let down you put on others because being true to yourself is much more important.


 * “Conscience, the sense of right, the power of perceiving moral distinctions, the power of discerning between justice and injustice, excellence and baseness, is the highest faculty given us by God, the whole foundation of our responsibility, and our sole capacity for religion. ...God, in giving us conscience, has implanted a principle within us which forbids us to prostrate ourselves before mere power, or to offer praise where we do not discover worth.”-- William Ellery Channing, http://www.quoteland.com/tellafriend/index.asp?QUOTE_ID=7438
 * The quote defines conscience as something that truly defines a person. The principles, religion, and morals we have attribute to conscience. Channing finds that conscience dictates the decisions we make and things we value.


 * "To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men." -- Abraham Lincoln, http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_conscience.html
 * I think this qoute is saying that one should always follow their conscience no matter what the consequences. This is somewhat related to the readings we have done so far, about how the misunderstood are remembered. So rather than taking action, cowards are those that do not speak up and don't what their conscience is teliing them to do even though they know it is the right thing to do. That is what seperates men from cowards. Men follow their conscience, cowards are silent.


 * “Then, without realizing it, you try to improve yourself at the start of each new day; of course, you achieve quite a lot in the course of time. Anyone can do this, it costs nothing and is certainly very helpful. Whoever doesn't know it must learn and find by experience that a quiet conscience makes one strong.” –Anne Frank myquotebox.com
 * This is similar to our Franklin Experiment, the point is for us to reflect from our experiences and improve ourselves. We are keeping our conscience quite, but we are still expressing our battles with right and wrong.


 * "What is popular is not always right, what is right is not always popular."
 * This quote is often found of walls of schools. To have a good conscience someone should feel as though they are doing what is right even though it might not be the same as most people.


 * " Never do anything against conscience, even if the state demands it" Albert Einstein
 * This is saying that even if rules are set up in society there is no need to follow them unless in your head you believe that it is morally just and would leave your conscience clear.
 * "Conscience is what hurts when everything else feesl so good." - unknown
 * Conscience is what tells you when what you are doing is wrong and many times what you want isn't always the right thing to do.

“Cowardice asks the question ‘Is it Safe?’ Expediency asks the question ‘Is it politic?’ But conscience asks the question, ‘Is it right?’ And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but because conscience tells one it is right” – Martin Luther King Jr. 
 * "To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men." - Abraham Lincoln
 * This quote has a direct connection to Transcendentalist. This quote explains, for an individual to have conscience and be considered not a coward they must be aware of wrong and right, and act on it. It’s a quote that could sway the argument of someone who at first opposed Lincolns radical ideas by questioning their manhood.
 * I think this quote means that you can ask the question of what is safe or politic, but in the end your conscience is the most important thing, and you must follow it because that is the only true answer to what is right or wrong.
 * Nothing has any power over me other than that which I give it through my **conscious** thoughts." -Anthony Robbins
 * This quote is powerful and makes a lot of sense. Anthony Robbins is pointing out that through his conscious thoughts, that nothing has power over him.
 * An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law."- Martin Luther King JR
 * This quote shows that we should follow our conscious because it knows the difference between good and bad. And that to follow our conscience is just
 * When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it? -Eleanor Roosevelt
 * This is saying that in our world we do not think twice about hurting another soul, we avenge it. But, she's saying that maybe eventually our consciences will grow soft and we will be guilty for hurting another one to stop human misery. But, with the way the world is going I don't think this is ever possible.
 * Conscience is our magnetic compass; reason our chart.- Joseph Cook (John Guyer)
 * Our Conscience is the one thing that guides us through life and steers us in the right direction. We need to follow it because it is telling us what is the right thing to do based on our moral code.
 * To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.- Abraham Lincoln
 * This quote by Abraham Lincoln calls anyone who doesn't follow his or her conscience to be a coward who is afraid to speak his or her mind
 * Through pride we are ever deceiving ourselves. But deep down below the surface of the average conscience a still, small voice says to us, something is out of tune. - Carl Gustav Jung
 * This quote means that people do things for a sense of pride without worrying about the later consequences. Even people who do not feel guilt or regret still have a hidden conscience. When someone is about to do something so terribly wrong, their conscience will speak out to them and they will know that "something is out of tune" and to find another solution.
 * “[|Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody may be looking.]” -Henry Louis Mencken
 * Mencken is saying that our conscience goes off when someone is watching what we do. The point of having a conscience is so that we do what is right in other's eyes.


 * "Pain is temoporary, but pride lasts forever."
 * This quote is an example of conscience because if you do not push through your pain, then it will leave you with a bad conscience. You will always be thinking "what if" if you don't do something. If you accomplish something then you will be proud of it and you will not have that "what if i had done that" on your conscience.
 * “[|**Conscience** is the perfect interpreter of life.]” ~Karl Barth
 * This quote by Karl Barth means that your own conscience is the perfect interpreter of life. Only you can interpret what you want to know. You have the power and the strength of your own conscience and only you can control it.

